Dennis Jurs of Hampshire died as he often lived — speeding along a street or highway aboard a racing bicycle. And Monday afternoon an auto collision ended the life that a Viet Cong land mine was unable to stop almost 50 years ago.

Jurs, 68, was pronounced dead Monday afternoon soon after his bike collided with a sports-utility vehicle at the country intersection of Allen and Walker roads near his hometown. His survivors include his wife, Elgin YWCA Chief Executive Officer Julia McClendon.

Jurs had worked for the Clayton Automatic Valve Co.'s Elgin warehouse office for 43 years. "He was the regional manager for many years. Then we switched roles three years ago and he became a regional engineer as he began to move toward retiring when he turned 70," said co-worker Andy Caselli.

Caselli recalled Jurs talking about serving in the Army in Vietnam when he was about 19 years old. In 2005 Jurs told a newspaper reporter that the explosion of a land mine tore his left thigh apart and left shrapnel in his left arm. He told the reporter he was in a body cast for three months, unsure if he would ever walk again.

Jurs never recovered his leg strength, he told the reporter, until he began riding bicycles at the age of 30.

The next 38 years would find Jurs often entered in races all over the Midwest. He was part of a Springfield-based team called the Team MACK Racing Association.

Team MACK President Gary Doering of Springfield said Jurs helped organize the Four Bridges Race held in Elgin during the mid-2000s. This coming weekend, Doering said, "we hoped Dennis was going to come to Wood Dale for a Memorial Day Weekend Masters Series race. But that is not to be."

Pete Garlock, sales director of the Elgin Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, recalls that when local tourism officials wanted to start an Elgin Cycling Classic race in 2009, Jurs volunteered to chair the organizing committee.

Team MACK Racing Association, HANDOUT

Dennis Jurs, with white hair, poses in 2005 with other members of his Team MACK cycling team.

Dennis Jurs, with white hair, poses in 2005 with other members of his Team MACK cycling team. (Team MACK Racing Association, HANDOUT)

The first Elgin Cycling Classic drew 700 riders. The race was repeated under that organization's leadership for about four more years.

"He was very diligent and knew a lot about organizing a race after being on the Springfield team for decades," said Elgin City Councilman John Steffen, who worked with Jurs on the race committee.

Steffen said that when Jurs was aboard a bike and his pant legs hitched up, companions could see the scars from the Vietnam wounds. "But he didn't like to talk about that," Steffen said. "I think riding was therapeutic to him. He rode 150 miles a week."

Jurs' family could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Funeral arrangements were incomplete at Laird Funeral Home in Elgin. Spokesman Rob Laird said a visitation has tentatively been scheduled from 4 to 8 p.m. Monday and funeral services at 10 a.m. Tuesday.

Kane County Sheriff's Lt. Pat Gengler said Jurs was killed when his bike ran into the side of a Honda CR-V driven by James Conners, 64, of DeKalb. The bike was traveling eastbound on Allen Road. The SUV was going southbound on Walker Road.

Gengler said Conners told investigators that he had stopped at the stop sign for Walker but then started forward again without noticing that Jurs' bike was coming from his right. There is no stop sign there for Allen Road traffic.

Gengler said Jurs was wearing a helmet but was pronounced dead at the scene. He said it is difficult for investigators in a crash like that to determine how fast the bike was going. Conners was charged with failure to yield the right of way.

The lieutenant said the tragedy is an example of the need for car drivers to look out for traffic that's not as visible as a car and for bike riders to be on their guard while traveling along high-speed rural roads. "Sometimes people can't see you and some of these bikes can be moving pretty fast," Gengler said. "When two cars crash together, you have the metal all around you to absorb some of the force. But that's not true when you're on a bike or a motorcycle."

Gengler noted that it was the second fatal bike crash near Hampshire in about five years. In the other case, another man who Gengler described as "an avid bike rider" was wearing headphones and didn't hear that he was riding into the path of a freight train.